Jusqu’ici, il fallait bien croire Hector Berlioz, qui affirmait avoir détruit cette messe composée à 21 ans, jouée pour la première fois à l’église Saint-Roch. Mais en 1992, par le plus grand hasard, un instituteur en retrouva un manuscrit à Anvers. On allait alors découvrir, dans cette partition généreuse, les signes avant-coureurs du révolutionnaire et les traces des futurs Requiem, Symphonie fantastique et autre Benvenuto Cellini. De vingt ans postérieure, la Troisième Symphonie de Louise Farrenc résume un artisanat et une science des proportions qui lui valurent l’admiration de Schumann… et de Berlioz.

Berlioz, Messe solennelle / Dinis Sousa

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique

From its request by a dark stranger to its gruelling creation on the composer’s deathbed, Mozart’s Requiem is a piece haunted by mysteries. It’s also an awe-inspiring contemplation of life’s profoundest questions, conveyed through music of enormous courage and compassion, beauty and power.

Mozart Requiem

Usher Hall

City Halls

With the death of Benjamin Britten on December 4, 1976, the music world lost one of the most important composers of the 20th century. Only shortly before his passing had the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt gained "an impression of the rare purity of his music." Overwhelmed by the "magnitude of such a loss," Pärt wrote his Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten in 1977 as a homage to the deceased artist, but also as a meditation on death. The bell tone at the end of the six-minute work fades into a tense silence, out of which the opening bars of Mozart's Requiem emerge. It remained unfinished after his death on December 5, 1791, thus making him a myth. Mozart: lux æterna.

Mozart Requiem on Mozart's death anniversary

Mozarteum Foundation

Scotland, seventeenth century. Henri Ashton explains to his confidant Gilbert that, for political reasons, he has decided to marry his sister Lucie to Arthur Bucklaw, the powerful Lord Athold’s nephew. However, Lucie is in love with Edgar Ravenswood, the last member of the Ashtons’ rival family. Gilbert informs Henri of a secret rendezvous between Lucie and Edgar. Then comes Arthur, and he is reassured by Henri about Lucie’s love for him. In any case, Arthur says, his uncle has ordered Edgar to go to France on a diplomatic mission. Pretending to be her friend, Gilbert accompanies Lucie to the place where she is to meet Edgar. While she waits for him, Lucie laments that the old hatred between the two families makes their love impossible. Edgar arrives bearing the sad news that is about to leave. But, before that, he asks Henri for his sister’s hand. The two lovers exchange rings and bid farewell.

Julien Henric

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 20, 2026

Lucie de Lammermoor · Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Past events

Jul 2, 2026

Berlioz, Messe solennelle / Dinis Sousa · Orchestre National de France

Apr 30 - May 1, 2026

Mozart Requiem · Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Singer in Requiem by Mozart

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Singer in Symphony No. 3 by Farrenc

Orchestre National de France

Singer in Missa in tempore belli by Haydn

Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Lord Arthur Bucklaw in Lucie de Lammermoor by Donizetti

Fondazione Teatro Donizetti

Singer in Solemn Mass by Berlioz

Orchestre National de France

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